[pct-l] Footwear again

[Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes]

I wore street running shoes for my last 200 miles or so of the PCT.  
They worked every bit as well as the trail runners I wore previously.  
Yesterday I bought a new pair of street runners for a trip I'm doing  
this weekend in the Los Padres forest. Street runners are comfortable  
and dry quickly. The trail we are following has a lot of creek  
crossings so having shoes that dry fast is a bonus in November.  
Street runners have less tread so you won't get as much mud adhering  
to the bottom. Mud may be a problem for part of the trail.

I have actually hiked some in flip flops. Flip flops have no tread at  
all. I was surprised that the softness of the sole provides better  
traction than the lugs of boots under a lot of circumstances. I hiked  
15 miles of the PCT in flip flops and I met a guy in Oregon who only  
hikes in flip flops because of a painful bone spur. Probably doesn't  
work for November in the Washington section.

The PCT isn't really that rugged unless there's weather. I've hiked  
hundreds of miles, including miles on the JMT section and Fuller  
Ridge twice, wearing Chaco sandals. Chacos suck in the snow but are  
fine anywhere else.

On Nov 21, 2012, at 10:00 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:

> From: patrick griffith <patrickjgriffith at hotmail.com>
> Subject: [pct-l] Footwear again
>
> Hi All,
> The planning for 2013 is coming along nicely, and I'm counting the  
> days before Kick Off! I recently bought Yogi's guide which I'm  
> finding extremely useful, but it has raised an old question for me  
> regarding footwear and i'd like some opinions. Several PCTers  
> mentioned in Yoggi's book wear running shoes, as in not trail  
> runners or light boots but running shoes,as in what I personally  
> use when i'm running marathons etc. I have a make/model and insole  
> combo that are perfect for me and I never get blisters (although  
> obviously i understand that trail conditions are different to  
> roads), would you all advise using this setup on trail and avoiding  
> trail runners and boots completely? will running shoes survive the  
> ruggedness of the PCT? I am extremely tempted to give them a go!
> Patrick